Dialogues @ New Orleans Jazz Museum
Composers Now Continues its 15th Anniversary Season with Dialogues in New Orleans
Milestone Season Kicks Off in New Orleans with an Intimate Evening of Performance and Conversation
Program Spotlights Louisiana-Rooted Composers Courtney Bryan, Steve Lands and Sultana Isham
Marking 15 years of championing living composers and amplifying their diverse creative voices, the renowned Composers Now will continue the celebration of its milestone anniversary season in a city synonymous with musical innovation with Dialogues in New Orleans at the New Orleans Jazz Museum on Thursday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m. This special presentation will launch a dynamic Fall/Winter 2026-2027 season of performances, world premieres, new commissions and composer-centered conversations designed to connect audiences directly with the creators shaping music today.
Dialogues in New Orleans will feature three Louisiana-rooted composer-performers, spotlighting the breadth and vitality of the region’s contemporary landscape to include: New Orleans native, 2023 MacArthur Fellow and composer-pianist Courtney Bryan; Baton Rouge–born composer and trumpeter Steve Lands; and award-winning composer and violinist Sultana Isham. Designed to place composers and their creative processes at the center of the experience, Dialogues pairs live performance with conversation, giving audiences insight into the ideas, influences and creative processes behind their work.
Bringing a distinct musical perspective to the stage, each composer will share a chamber work of approximately 10 minutes. Bryan will perform an excerpt from her piano concerto House of Pianos, newly arranged for piano and string quintet. Lands will perform the Prelude and Part 1 of his Draconid Suite for trumpet, piano and strings, a work inspired by the annual Draconid meteor shower that features Lands alongside pianist Oscar Rossignoli. Isham will share a work for string ensemble informed by her interdisciplinary approach to sound and storytelling.
Composers Now Founder and Artistic Director Tania León hosts each Dialogues program, guiding conversations with featured artists about the ideas, influences and creative processes behind their work.
“Composers Now’s 15th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate the remarkable range of artists and musical ideas that have shaped our work, and to look ahead to what’s next,” said León. “Opening our Fall/Winter 2026-2027 season in New Orleans honors a city with an extraordinary musical legacy while celebrating the artists contributing to its creative life today. Through Dialogues, we’re proud to spotlight Courtney Bryan, Steve Lands and Sultana Isham and invite audiences into the conversations that shape their music.”
The New Orleans presentation marks the beginning of Composers Now’s 2026–27 season, which will continue in New York City and online with world premieres, new commissions, mentorship initiatives and composer-centered conversations. The season celebrates 15 years of creating opportunities for established and emerging composers while inviting audiences to engage directly with the artists shaping music today.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
New Orleans native Courtney Bryan is a composer, pianist, Steinway Artist and 2023 MacArthur Fellow who currently serves as composer-in-residence with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Her recent works include Suddenly Last Summer, an opera commissioned by the Fisher Center at Bard; DREAMING (Freedom Sounds), premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble; Visual Rhythms for the Jacksonville Symphony; House of Pianos, premiered with the LA Phil New Music Group and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; and Gathering Song, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic.
Bryan has held residencies with Opera Philadelphia, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Jacksonville Symphony. She is a co-founder of the Jazz Generations Initiative, a Mellon-funded program in New Orleans and New York, and the Albert and Linda Mintz Professor of Music at Newcomb College in Tulane University’s School of Liberal Arts. Her music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
Baton Rouge native Steve Lands has performed on stages, in clubs, museums, houses of worship and studios around the world for nearly two decades. His wide-ranging collaborations include a Las Vegas residency with Maroon 5; festival appearances with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; European tours with bassist Sélène Saint-Aimé and pianist Florian Favre; studio sessions with The Black Keys; performances with Ellis, Jason, Branford and Delfeayo Marsalis; and a David Bowie tribute with Arcade Fire.
Sultana Isham is an award-winning composer, violinist, scholar, filmmaker and interdisciplinary fellow at the Sundance Institute. She served as a researcher and composer for the documentary All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk and composed the score for the Emmy-nominated documentary The Neutral Ground, earning a 2021 IDA nomination for Best Music Score. In 2023, she made her composer-conductor debut with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Isham’s score for the Peabody Award-winning HBO docuseries Stax: Soulsville, USA was featured in the presentation that received the TV Premiere Audience Award at SXSW. An Opera America 2024–26 Discovery Grantee, she is developing Rogue Objects, an immersive planetarium opera created with librettist and director Janani Balasubramanian and astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natu.